Singularity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Singularity \Sin`gu*lar"i*ty\
     (s[i^][ng]`g[-u]*l[a^]r"[i^]*t[y^]), n.; pl. {Singularities}
     (s[i^][ng]`g[-u]*l[a^]r"[i^]*t[i^]z). [L. singularitas: cf.
     F. singularit['e].]
     1. The quality or state of being singular; some character or
        quality of a thing by which it is distinguished from all,


        or from most, others; peculiarity.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Pliny addeth this singularity to that soil, that the
              second year the very falling down of the seeds
              yieldeth corn.                        --Sir. W.
                                                    Raleigh.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I took notice of this little figure for the
              singularity of the instrument.        --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Anything singular, rare, or curious.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Your gallery
              Have we passed through, not without much content
              In many singularities.                --Shak.
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     3. Possession of a particular or exclusive privilege,
        prerogative, or distinction.
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              No bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of
              singularity [universal bishop].       --Hooker.
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              Catholicism . . . must be understood in opposition
              to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation. --Bp.
                                                    Pearson.
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     4. Celibacy. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  singularity
       n 1: the quality of being one of a kind; "that singularity
            distinguished him from all his companions" [syn: {uniqueness}]
       2: strangeness by virtue of being remarkable or unusual

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  145 Moby Thesaurus words for "singularity":
     aberration, abnormality, absurdity, anomaly, anticness, aroma,
     attribute, badge, bizarreness, bizarrerie, black hole, brand,
     cachet, cast, character, characteristic, combination, conceit,
     configuration, crackpotism, crank, crankiness, crankism, crotchet,
     crotchetiness, curiousness, cut, deformity, deviancy, deviation,
     differentia, differential, differentiation, differentness,
     distinctive feature, distinctiveness, divergence, dottiness,
     earmark, eccentricity, egohood, erraticism, erraticness,
     fantasticality, feature, figure, flavor, freakiness, freakishness,
     fusion, grotesqueness, grotesquerie, gust, hallmark, human factor,
     identity, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, impress, impression, index,
     individualism, individuality, indivisibility, intactness,
     integrality, integration, integrity, inviolability, irreducibility,
     irregularity, keynote, kink, lineaments, maggot, malformation,
     mannerism, mark, marking, mold, monstrosity, monstrousness, nature,
     nominalism, nonconformity, oddity, oddness, odor, oneness,
     organic unity, outlandishness, particularism, particularity,
     peculiarity, personal equation, personal identity, personality,
     personship, property, purity, quaintness, quality, queerness, quip,
     quirk, quirkiness, savor, seal, self-identity, selfhood, selfness,
     selfsameness, shape, simplicity, singleness, smack, solidarity,
     solidification, solidity, soul, specialty, stamp, strangeness,
     taint, tang, taste, teratism, token, trait, trick, twist,
     uncommonness, unconventionality, undividedness, unification,
     uniformity, uniqueness, unity, univocity, unnaturalness, weirdness,
     whim, whimsicality, whimsy, wholeness